Gadgets Blog News

by Darren Murph, posted May 12th 2008 at 6:09PM Nothing says sexy like a sleek wood trim, wouldn’t you wholeheartedly agree? Vita Audio obviously does, as it’s £499.99 ($980) R4 integrated music system just screams lavish. The all-in-one unit packs an ipod dock, slot-loading CD / MP3 / WMA-music disc player, USB port, DAB and FM tuner with RDS, front and rear auxiliary ports, built-in display, alarm clock function and the firm’s detachable RotoDial remote. For those not feeling the rich walnut veneer, there’s also a high-gloss white (surprised?) version available for £50 ($97) more. Sadly, the “coming soon” tidbit leaves us clueless as to how long you actually have left to save up for either of the pricey systems. (Read the full post about ‘Vita Audio adds a splash of luxury to R4 iPod / DAB radio’…)

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by Darren Murph, posted May 12th 2008 at 2:52PM Sanyo’s got a new duo of projectors hitting the Japanese market today, the LP-XC55 and LP-XC50. Both beamers boast white motifs, a boisterous 7-watt internal speaker, 1,024 x 768 resolution, a security bar enabling extra thick cabling to hold it in place and the Active Maintenance Filter system for easy maintenance. Essentially, the latter enables the filter to last longer between changes and “automatically senses when airflow is obstructed by dust, and advances the cartridge to the new filter.” The only notable difference between the two is the 3,100 ANSI lumens (XC55) / 2,600 ANSI lumens (XC50), and of course, the ¥365,400 ($3,529) / ¥312,900 ($3,022) price tags. (Read the full post about ‘Sanyo’s LP-XC55 and LP-XC50 projectors fitted with Active Maintenance Filter system’…)

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by Chris Ziegler, posted May 12th 2008 at 4:10PM We’ve just received an official statement from AT&T regarding the presence of an “iPhone Black” on its model selector earlier today: “The reference to ‘iPhone Black’ was simply a temporary placeholder used over the weekend for a scheduled catalog update. It was meant to temporarily distinguish the various iPhone models-4GB, 8GB and 16GB-but was never reassigned. We’re changing the site now.” Makes total sense, right? Three models of iPhone, two placeholders: iPhone and iphone Black. (Read the full post about ‘AT&T says “iPhone Black” means nothing, gunman acted alone’…)

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Helio’s latest promotion has their Ocean for just $99. Of course there is a small catch to get that price, the phone is actually going for $199, and you will get the $100 difference back in the form of a mail-in-rebate. Which would make this a good offer only for those that are good at making sure the take care of the paperwork. Aside from the mail-in-rebate, the offer requires a new activation which means a two year agreement, and you have to sign up for a plan that retails for $60 or more per month. Of course when you consider Helio has a 500 minute plan for $65, a 1000 minute plan for $85 and an unlimited plan for $99 that should not be an issue. (Read the full post about ‘Helio offering the Ocean for just $99′…)

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Photographers on the go are probably familiar with Eye-Fi, which incorporates wireless connectivity into its flash-based SD memory cards. The 2GB cards turn just about any sd capable digital camera or other electronic into a wireless hub for transmitting data wirelessly. Well, not being willing to settle just for that, Eye-Fi is expanding its card roles into Geo Tagging and giving users the capability of automatically uploading photos from more than 10,000 hotspots while away from home or from their home wireless network. In partnership with Skyhook Wireless, the Eye-Fi Explore uses embedded software that allows allow users to map where their photos were captured with automatic geotagging. (Read the full post about ‘Eye-Fi expands into Geotagging’…)

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by Donald Melanson, posted May 12th 2008 at 11:25AMIt’s far from the first SATA-compatible SSD drive, but TDK seems to think its new GBDisk RS1 series drives will be just the ticket for some very particular users (though not likely you or us). Apparently designed specifically for industrial use, the drive uses single level cell NAND flash memory (as opposed to multi-level cell) and a GBDriver RS1 SATA controller, which TDK says will together help it maintain data reliability while standing up to frequent, high-speed data writing. You will have to make do with some fairly small storage capacities even by SSD standards, however, with the drives topping out at 16GB, all of which come in 2.5-inch drive enclosures. (Read the full post about ‘TDK intros SATA-compatible industrial SSD drives’…)

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by Paul Miller, posted May 12th 2008 at 11:03AM Good news and bad news on the imminent 3G iPhone front. O2 apparently got another batch of 16 giggers in stock, since it’s currently accepting orders, while the 8GB remains out of stock, and both phones remain unavailable on the US and UK Apple Stores. More encouraging, however, is the new listing of an “iphone Black” model on AT&T’s account management site. There’s nothing else on the site to hint at specs or release or whether this is indeed the upcoming 3G iPhone, but it does fall in line with the word we have on a glossy black back for the much anticipated phone. (Read the full post about ‘AT&T listing “iPhone Black” model, O2 gets the original back in stock’…)

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We recently saw the MPAA go after the now shut-down, but once popular torrent site, TorrentSpy. Now, the MPAA has gone after The Pirate Bay as well. The MPAA seems to be starting to crack down heavily on torrenting websites, so other such websites should be take note and be very careful as they move forward. Basically, in the case, the MPAA stated that “The Pink Panther” had been downloaded nearly 50,000 times. Personally, I wonder why they decided to use that torrent file as an example, I’m sure there are other files that have been downloaded many more times. Anyway, 50,000 downloads of a torrent file doesn’t tell the whole story, there could be many more people who got the full movie. (Read the full post about ‘MPAA goes after The Pirate Bay, wins lawsuit’…)

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by Ryan Block, posted May 11th 2008 at 4:37AM Oh, there are plenty of bad Chinese iphone knockoffs out there, but the HiPhone may be the reigning champion these days — so it kind of seemed like a matter of time before Apple loosed the hounds on distributors of the device. We don’t have confirmation or proper human translation of the above legal notice, but it would appear Apple’s European counsel Bird & Bird has delivered at least one notice to an unnamed distributor threatening €25,000 in damages (and €15,000 in legal fees) for HiPhone sales. Hardly the case of the century, but we’ll let you know if we hear anything.[Thanks, Ricardo]Update: Reader Ben W hooked us up with a translation of the letter; we can’t vouch for its veracity, but it’s posted after the break if you want to check it out. (Read the full post about ‘Apple finally setting its legal sights on the HiPhone?’…)

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by Paul Miller, posted May 12th 2008 at 8:01AM If destroying your roof just to get some sun-sucking solar panels installed isn’t your thing, Lumeta’s PowerPly could be the solution. The panels use traditional roofing adhesives, that’ll be familiar to regular ol’ roofers, and save the process from drilling holes and bolts associated with the regular rack systems required to mount solar panels. (Read the full post about ‘Lumeta’s “peel & stick” solar panels can blanket a roof in under 35 minutes’…)

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